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“You have no choice but to follow my command as long as I hold this, right?” he asked. “How does it feel to be controlled in the same way you controlled us?”
I couldn’t speak, but I shook my head, desperately begging with my eyes for Henrik to listen. He didn’t seem to be payingattention. His eyes were piercing through mine, but he didn’t see me at all.
“You know, I used to dream of you after we talked under the stars,” he said, his hand coming up to my hair. “Was that your control too?”
I shook my head again, his fingers gently brushing against my neck as his fingers followed my hair to the tips. His touch was warm, nothing like when his demon had been touching me in a similar manner.
“Or the way my heart raced when you walked by?” he asked. “Was that my feelings for you? Or you controlling my emotions?”
I froze, not knowing the answer.
“Or when I thought that Jacques was your fiancé and I was insanely jealous whenever he was within ten feet of you. Was that my true jealousy?”
My heart broke with every word he spoke, his voice getting weaker with each word.
“Was it?” he asked softly.
When I couldn’t answer, rage took over his face.
“Tell me!” he yelled.
“I don’t know!” I yelled back, jaw suddenly loosened.
He clenched his jaw as I spoke.
“I didn’t even know what I was until the night before the mutiny,” I said. “I just thought people generally liked me. I never thought in a thousand years that I could… Henrik, believe me, if there was one person I would never try to manipulate, it’s y—”
“How can I even believe you?” he replied. “I’ve watched men and women far less powerful than you give over their souls in a moment for greed. I’ve done it. I can’t even say that I regret it. So even if you didn’t want power before, that doesn’t mean that now you hate it.”
I swallowed, looking into his hollow eyes. “You’re right, I don’t hate the idea of power. I hate the idea that you can’t stand me because of it.”
Silence drifted between us, the tension in Henrik’s muscles getting tighter. He looked at me from the side, head cocked, thoughts visibly racing through his mind.
“I don’t hate you,” he finally said. “But…I want to.”
He came in closer, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me tight against him. When I put a hand to his chest to separate us, I felt his pulse race against my palm.
He was controlling me, and yet, he was the one affected.
He leaned into my ear, shallow, painful breaths coming from his lips.
“Touch me,” he whispered.
My heart dropped to my stomach, but I had no choice but to obey. My hands moved against my own command, running slowly up his chest and across his shoulders. When my fingers reached his arms, he leaned his head against mine, his breath hitting my cheek. He grabbed one of my hands in his, and I could feel my hand twitching to try and continue its command. He slowly pressed his lips against my cheek, then leaned down further, his lips coming to my neck.
“Henrik,” I gasped, “what are you doing?”
“Even if it isn’t real…” he whispered, “I still want to feel it.”
Words got stuck in my throat as he slowly pressed his lips against my neck again. It wasn’t a possessive kiss or a demonic kiss but the kiss of a broken man who had lost everything.
He suddenly stopped and pulled back, his hands raised beside his head in surrender. I thought briefly that it was his moral compass that had stopped him, but then I saw Jacques behind him, the tip of the sword in his hand disappearing into Henrik’s back.
“What a pathetic use of power,” Jacques said flatly. “If you’re going to be greedy, at least have some high ambition with it. Now step back slowly.”
With defeated look, Henrik stepped back with his arms still raised. His warmth left me, even though it probably wasn’t his real warmth in the first place.
“What took you so long?” I snapped at Jacques.
